A Sense of Freedom
by Appomattoxco
Summary: A funny little Ganya story in the world without bunnies for the Giles ficathon.


Title: A Sense of Freedom   
Author: Appomattoxco  
Rating: PG for more innuendoes than any three pages should have.  
Summary: AU season 6 post Gone the world without bunnies or maybe poor Xander. Giles unwittingly fulfils a long held fantasy of Anya's.  
Pairing: Giles/ Anya ficathon story for Doyle. I hope you like.   
Thanks: to agilebrit for the beta any mistakes are because I fiddled with it after she was done.   
  
"He really expected you to believe he was doing pushups?" Anya laughed. She was in one of her favorite places of all--enjoying a post-sex cuddle with her fiancée in their big new bed.  
  
"I think he was counting on polite intentional blindness on my part. I was grateful for, and stunned by his tact. I simply told him that the invisibility spell was dangerously unstable and if he should come upon Buffy he should get her to the Magic Box immediately."  
  
"Rupert! You actually used the words 'if you should come upon Buffy'? How did you keep from laughing?"  
  
"I didn't mean it that way. At the time, I was concerned that Buffy was turning into goo." Anya gave him one of her incredulous looks as if to say, sure, Ripper, I believe you, so he added truthfully, "Spike did resort to a rather loud coughing fit to cover Buffy's giggles. I think being invisible gave her a sense of freedom."  
  
"Dear, do you think it might be fun for us to do invisible pushups if you could find a way to do them without me going all mushy and rice-pudding-like? A sense of freedom would be very nice, not from you, just the rest of it." Anya asked. The day had been stressful, filled with wedding plans and pointless demon research. Giles had even used the term "harrowing" at one point to describe the seating plan for the reception, and not the invisible Buffy stuff that had just been mildly upsetting on the Hellmouth scale. It had been simple enough to find invisible Buffy--look for Spike, and most of the time, that was where Buffy was.  
  
"It won't be long before we're on our honeymoon we will both feel better then. As for making you disappear, NEVER, you are most beautiful wife in the world and no matter how you may look I still crave the sight of you." Sighing he thought, I'm not making any sense at all, but it's been a horrid day. Trying to arrange the seating so that the guest weren't mistaking each other for the main course and trying to provide food they could eat. Where was a good apocalypse when you needed one? Vegas and an Elvis impersonator were beginning to look very attractive.   
  
Anya was quiet long enough that Giles thought she'd fallen asleep, until she said, "But we're not married yet. Rupert, you've been so nice lately. Helping with the seating arrangements, and dealing with that awful caterer. Before the out-of-town guests start to arrive, let's spend the day together and pretend that it's all done and we're on our honeymoon already."  
  
"And will this honeymoon include you in one of those scraps of lace you've already packed away?" Giles asked with a sly smile that came very close to a smirk.  
  
"I thought we could spend the day doing one of those outdoorsy things you like so much, and then I get to pick the indoor fun. If you like the idea of staying in all day, I won't argue," she said with a wink.  
  
"There is one thing I've wanted us to do together. If the day is entirely up to me, you can't object, and you have to at least give it a fair chance."  
  
"Oh, honey, you should know by now I trust you completely, and I'll try almost anything once. What is it?"  
  
Giles laughed, "I'm not telling! It's a surprise. I will tell you that it's 'outdoorsy' fun."  
  
Anya looked a little disappointed at that. "It's not sex, then. No way are we doing that outside again. Even though we had lots of orgasms, it took forever to get the sand out last time."  
  
"You'll see. It may even give you a sense of freedom. Let's get some sleep 'Mrs. Giles' we've both had a long day." Not surprisingly they found themselves otherwise occupied for a while.

888

The next morning the couple woke and dressed earlier than normal for a weekend. Giles packed a picnic brunch while Anya dressed. "Is this all right for where we're going, Rupert?" Anya turned around to show off her jeans. All through breakfast she had tried to get Giles to tell her where they were going.  
  
"Very, um, nice. A little tight though. You couldn't fit anything into those back pockets if you needed to."  
  
"It's not as if you have room to talk, mister." Anya was defensive for a moment, and then she saw the look in his eyes. "Will I need to put something in my back pocket?"  
  
"Actually I have something for you in my back pocket."   
  
"That line was old the day after they invented pockets." Anya said, reaching around him and into his pockets. She pulled out a red silk scarf and reached in again.  
  
Giles enjoyed her attentions for a few seconds before saying, "Not that I'm complaining in any way, darling, but there isn't anything else."  
  
"Oh...I thought it was a magic trick. You know—the not real kind."  
  
"The scarf is for your eyes so that where we're going remains a surprise. Is that all right?" She nodded, he folded the scarf to make it opaque, turned Anya around and tied it over her eyes. Kissing his fiancée lightly on the back of the neck when he was done and delighting in her shiver.  
  
"This scarf is very nice. Maybe I should revise my plans for us later." Her tone turned contemplative. "It's too bad there's only one. There's something that might be fun …"  
  
"Well, um, yes, I, uh, wasn't sure what color would be best, so we have a few, um, more."  
  
It was cute to her that he could still get all stammer-y now and then. "Oh good! Where'd you put them, honey?"  
  
"Bedside table, your side." So much for stammer-y, he didn't even sound as if he wished his glasses needed cleaning.  
  


888

  
When they reach their destination the sun shone and a light breeze blew. It could have been a perfect day, but he made the foolish mistake of telling the owner of the stable outside Sunnydale he was an experienced rider. He should have lied though his teeth. Most of the time the horses at such places were so tame it was difficult to tell if they were awake or just sleepwalking over the trail. Anya's mare, Blaze, had to be named for the mark on her forehead, because her personality was more on the line of a dying ember. His horse, on the other hand, an Appaloosa deceptively named Rosie, was a bad-tempered, evil thing with a mouth made of iron and a mind of her own. She tried rub him off on the trunks of trees and wanted to lower her head to eat every yard or two. She also had her own ideas about where she was going, and wherever that was, the marked trail wasn't on the agenda.  
  
The end result was that Anya placidly rode along with the pleased grin of a five-year-old on a pony ride, while Giles' relaxing ride was more like a training session with Buffy when she was mad at Spike. The spotted terror managed to unseat him ten minutes before the hour was up. That hadn't happened to him since he was twelve. He didn't remember it hurting so badly back then. Anya was alarmed, but good old Blaze was unflappable. Fortunately, the bruises were in a place that wouldn't show in the wedding pictures.  
  
Anya once again did the thing Giles least expected. As he slid his sore body behind the wheel of the car; she turned to her glowering fiancée with unshed tears in her eyes and a huge smile on her face. "Rupert Giles, you are the sweetest, most thoughtful man on earth. Here I offered to do anything you want to do and you take me riding. It's obvious that it's not something you're good at and enjoy. How did you know that I always wanted to ride horseback?" He blushed while she elaborated, "When I was a little girl, ordinary people didn't own horses, and once I became a demon I just teleported. I know it's silly, archaic and undemocratic but today you made me feel just like royalty."  
  
"Darling…" Giles tried to explain; he didn't want to mislead Anya, but he was touched and very happy that something had gone right today.  
  
"No, I understand," Anya interrupted him. "I don't expect you'll ever want to do this again, but if you do, there will be no more stretching the truth to impress me, mister. You'll admit to the horse renter guy you can't ride very well. You could have been hurt today." She sounded very royal indeed. "We are going home to have a warm bath together, and then we are going to eat that picnic in bed so you can regain your strength and I can thank you properly. With orgasms."  
  
Giles couldn't have stopped it to save his life. It seemed to start deep in his belly, bubbling up to fill his chest, then bursting out of his mouth. All the stress of recent weeks poured out. He giggled so hard that breathing became an issue, and tears were streaming down his face. Finally, when he regained his breath and most of his composure, he said, "By all means! I wouldn't dream of arguing with royalty."  
  
"Rupert...you didn't hit your head again when you fell, did you?" But Anya was smiling and laughing too. She was a lot less literal than most people gave her credit for.  
  
Finis  
  


  
A/N: This story has been strange aside from the plot itself, G/A keep wanting to jump each other. I've had to keep them apart, as even agilebrit's skilled beta couldn't keep a love scene by me from becoming bad fic sorry.


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